Anyone think this sport has a chance of making it big in the US. I'd say by looking at the attendance and TV contracts soccer is bigger in the country (most would agree). But do any of you vision lacrosse gaining more of a foothold one day? Thoughts? I'm not overly familiar with the game but I know some of my kids friends play it and does seem to be gaining some traction. I'm obviously hoping it doesn't as a result of impact to soccer...
I have nothing against lacrosse--it looks like it would be a lot of fun to play--but I can't see it ever challenging soccer. Unlike soccer, it has no base of support outside the USA; in fact, it's essentially a "foreign sport" in much the US itself. And there are no immigrant groups who can help feed its popularity in new markets, unlike soccer. And while this is entirely subjective--I don't think it's a particularly compelling spectator sport; unlike soccer, there's very little real midfield play, and they very rarely seem to use the full width of the field to the degree soccer does. So I don't see the pro (or college) game ever moving up to the upper echelons of the sporting landscape. Now, at the youth level--certainly, it's growing and will probably continue to for a while. I do think that the traditional association of lacrosse with prep schools and elite colleges will both fuel its growth and also ultimately limit it. For ambitious parents who want their kids in more prestigious schools, it's certainly one of the sports you'd turn to. But that also means that it will always lack a certain "street cred"-vibe. Several weeks ago, it was "Senior Night" for my son's HS soccer team. My wife and I showed up, only to find out that his game was delayed because it was also Senior Night for the lacrosse team. So we sat with the lacrosse parents and watched the end of their game. The demographic difference between the two teams was striking--we live in eastern Prince William County, VA--the more diverse (and relatively less affluent) half our suburban northern VA community. The soccer team was overwhelmingly made up of immigrant/child of immigrant kids. Hispanic and African, mostly, along with one Romanian kid, with a sprinkling of white and African-American players as well. My wife and I had been coming to nearly all his games for four years, and had never seen most of the parents who came that night--it just wasn't a thing for most of them to go watch "kids" soccer. But it was Senior night so they showed up. The lacrosse team was overwhelmingly white; this from a school that's well under 40% non-Hispanic white. While the soccer parents had a handful of balloons and a hand-drawn sign, the lacrosse parents had pitched in and had professionally printed posters for each Senior, with a giant portrait of each obviously taken by a professional. From the conversations I heard around me, it was clear that most of them attended games regularly, and that they all knew each other at least on a first-name basis. I don't know that that "means" anything but it was interesting.
Bigred- Nice post, thanks. Lacrosse definelty is a "white kids" sport right now. Generally the joke I hear is those playing LAX aren't physical enough or fast enough to play football. The same is said about soccer kids as well, but not nearly as much as I used to hear back in the 80's. It's interesting to me, and yeah disappointing- to be honest, that these kids are choosing Lax over soccer. Like you said, nothing against Lax, I just don't know why they wouldn't want to play soccer. Do the kids on your sons soccer team all get along? Is there a sense of team pride amongst the players? Off topic but isn't Allen Iverson from Prince William? Never mind if not...
I've overheard my son and some of his HS teammates joke about "Lax bros". I'm quite sure the ribbing went both ways. I guess there was some? I was pretty burned out on club soccer, so when it came to High school I was more than happy to disengage and restrict my involvement to showing up for games, paying my six bucks, and watching. I do know that much of my son's social life during HS involved guys from his team. They played a lot of pickup and indoor on their own. I'm not so sure soccer is missing out to lacrosse--from my limited perspective, it seems that the latter really appeals to the same sort of middle/upper-middle class families who are searching for an activity for their kid that will help them with college entrance (not necessarily a scholarship, but an extra reason for "better" schools to accept them). Since I believe that the college-career-focused nature of so much youth soccer is hindering youth development anyway, it's frankly not so bad to siphon some of the people with that approach to our sport away to something that fits their needs better. He's from Virginia, but not around here.
I really don't know anything about lacrosse. As far as its cultural impact, I think I recall coming across one Major League Lacrosse game while channel flipping, and this was a year or two (or maybe even three) ago. The game didn't look MLS level in terms of crowd or production quality, but I don't recall it looking completely bush league/niche either. As far as it affecting soccer, I really don't worry about soccer's place in the U.S. sporting landscape. It's not the biggest, but it's decently popular, especially compared to when I first got into soccer in the early 90s. I don't see anything changing too drastically one way or another for the time being even if other sports surge or wane in popularity.
In this part of the country lacrosse is played by the private schools and the richer suburban public schools. Lacrosse will not be a U.I.L. (University Interscholastic League...responsible for all public school sports in Texas) for many, many years if ever. Lacrosse will never be an Olympic sport as hardly any countries play the game. Lacrosse strikes me as a sport that white kids can win at as hardly any minorities play the game at all. Unlike soccer there are few lacrosse 'club' teams in North Texas and they are predominantly 95% plus (at least) comprised of white kids. A few years ago I had lunch with some friends including a couple of lacrosse coaches from local private schools. These guys had just finished working a lacrosse camp hosted by "The Harvard Lacrosse Coaches". They mentioned the camp had been limited to the first 100 kids who had signed up for the ten hour camp (spread over two days and sold out within a few hours) at a cost of $1200 per kid...do the math....I asked how many black kids were present and they answered. "None"....Lacrosse is a rich, white, elitist sport. Period.
I am from the main hotbed of Lacrosse. Played the sport a bit in high school. Love the speed of the sport. But, to answer the OP Hell no.
It's a solid sport, but its ceiling is limited because it's too regional and inaccessible to the wider population. There are only 69 D1 men's programs and 66 D2 men's programs mostly based on the East Coast (D3 offers no scholarships), and I can't see that number getting much higher than that due to Title IX. http://web1.ncaa.org/onlineDir/exec2/sponsorship
There once was a time when the arguably greatest lacrosse player of all time was a black kid from Syracuse University by way of a poor section of Manhasset, N.Y., called Spinney Hill. But that was a long time ago. As someone who grew up on Long Island in the 1950s and '60s, I have had trouble with the characterization of lacrosse as a lilly-white sport, but then I looked at a team picture of this year's NCAA champions from North Carolina. Not a single black kid on the team. So maybe it's hard to argue with that characterization. However, I am reasonably sure that there are thousands of kids playing public high school lacrosse in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland who aren't rich.
Was a half decent tailback for the Cleveland Browns as well. To answer the OP's post agree with the majority here. See the sport growing, I know it's grown in my area. But the main appeal at least out here is the social side and the connections you make. But it does fit nicely in the US school sport system of HS on to college so see kids continue to be drawn to it. But don't see it exploding, if anything I think Rugby has a better chance of making a big leap than Lacrosse.
Agree with this. Not only is it too ethnically limited, it's too geographically limited. Only once in 41 tournaments has the NCAA men's lacrosse champion come from west of the Alleghenies.
There may be a few 'minorities' from the greater Syracuse area playing, including the guy on the right who was the NCAA lacrosse equivalent of the Heismann winner in 2014. I have a black college lacrosse player interning in my office right now. There have been significant efforts to build lacrosse programs at the city schools that have combined with the suburban teams in this area.
Not really true. A high percentage of the kids that play LAX are also football players in the fall. The ideal LAX player is a bulky soccer player though. Heck, my U-11 soccer team had 7 LAX players out of 10 on the roster. Its just another sport to play. Some will choose soccer, some will choose LAX. No big deal. Roanoke.
There are definitely a few Black lacrosse players(I am one myself) but, the black players are also going to come from the Suburbs and Private Schools that are in the traditional hotbeds. Myles Jones and the Bratton brothers being from Long Island, Isiah Davis-Allen from St. Stephens St. Agnes School and Kyle Harrison from Friends School.
I don't know anything about Spinney Hill, but I've been to a doctor less than a mile away. I live 18.7 miles away from Spinney Hill via roads. The straight line distance is shorter. When I ran track in the Springs of 1998 and 1999, there were many players on the lacrosse team.
Yeah and even though there has been a travel sort craze in Lacrosse that there has been in other sports(Soccer being the worst offender) like Football the top players still play a variety of sports in high school. Since there is no pot of gold at the end for Lacrosse it is rarely a players first choice for sport. On a college Lacrosse roster you will find a high percentage of high school Football players but, also some Soccer players, Basketball players, Hockey players, etc. When I was in high school the Soccer/Lacrosse guys who ended up playing Lacrosse in college also played four years of Soccer as well. While the ones who saw their future in Soccer would drop Lacrosse by 9th or 10th grade. And to your point about ideal Lacrosse player. When I played Lacrosse the Football players would just sprint in a straight line when the ball was in their stick while the Soccer guys were much better in terms of changing direction and changing speed when they had the ball.
Oh, right--I've lived in (northern) VA for 14 years and counting, and I still get Hampton & Norfolk mixed up. I hate to admit it, but that whole area has mostly just been places I drive through on the way to VA Beach.
Unrelated but, Iverson is the ultimate "what if someone got him interested in Soccer when he was 5". I try to avoid the whole "what of our best athletes played Soccer" discussion but, he is the one guy I wonder with.
My dad saw Jim Brown play lacrosse in the 60s for Syracuse vs. U of Maryland. He and others have said he might have been a better lacrosse player than a football player. Lacrosse as a spectator sport has gotten worse over time. Now there is a lot less hitting and less play in the midfield scrambling for loose balls. The sticks used these days are much better than they used to be. It's much easier to control the ball and maintain possession than years ago, so much so that they have to use a shot clock now. I have a nephew that plays lax and soccer. It's just something else to do and it's fun. I don't think he likes one better than the other. One thing against lacrosse is the cost of equipment - pads, gloves, sticks, replacement parts for the sticks, helmet.